Crota’s End Hard Mode: Part 3

The final part of this end game raiding guide focuses on the team make up and how best to utilize the skills of each Guardian. There is no specific group of Guardians that can handle Crota better than the rest. I would love to see a group of six Warlocks take on Crota and emerge victorious. However, you must be able to utilize your specific class skills in order to have maximum impact on the raid. For an average pick up group, my only recommendation would be to have at least one Titan for that nice bubble. However, there are more important things than just placing a bubble down.

#5 Put the Bubble Down

I’ve already recommended having a Titan during Crota’s End. The bubble is a very useful tool that can save your allies on more than one occasion. It is most useful when you are actually trying to damage Crota. One member of your team should be a Titan and have Defender fully leveled and equiped. You need gift of the void to be most successful as the bubble man, but really any bubble will do. I have seen many groups run with multiple bubbles for that added rotation and making sure the super is charged, but I have also seen the raid completed with just one bubble bro.

The most difficult task of the bubble brother is protecting the sword wielder. While attacking Crota the sword wielder is likely to attract the attention of the boomers in the tower on the right side of the map. These boomers do a lot of damage and with the Crota’s Presence debuff, you do not want the sword wielder taking a lot of damage. The Defender’s job is to distract the boomers with a bubble.

It is easy to place a bubble, but difficult to place it right. The best place is to the right of the window ledge. The Defender must go to the circular platform where Crota stands when he rotates to the right and place the bubble near the front edge, towards the boomers. I have found the best success by standing right at the edge, so the bubble is half on the platform and half in the air in front of it. The boomers should start shooting you immediately.

The bubble is not a fire and forget job. After placing the bubble the Defender needs to make sure that the boomers actually took notice. If they saw the sword wielder first, they may still be shooting at him. At this point the Defender just needs to shoot a couple rounds towards the boomer tower in order to get their attention. And don’t forget to shoot rockets. The Defender is well protected by exiting the rear of the bubble giving him a clear shot at Crota. The Defender’s DPS is still valuable when taking Crota down.

#6 Generate Orbs

Orbs found a new life in Crota’s End. Orbs had pretty much been unnecessary before reaching Crota, but now they are vital. As I mentioned earlier in the guide, orbs will help your teammates regenerate health with the right equipment. You really need to work together to generate orbs because you can’t generate orbs for yourself and you can only generate 8 orbs per super use.

The best place to generate orbs is in the crystal room. Before the fight starts communicate with your teammates about who will use their super on the Hallowed Knights. Killing a yellow bar enemy with a super generates 4 orbs. With 4 Hallowed Knights you could have a minimum of 16 orbs before the fight even starts. However, it won’t do you any good if too many Guardians activate their super and try to kill the same enemies. If also won’t do you any good if you kill the Knights with sniper shots, so watch where you are shooting.

This is the best place for Warlocks to shine. Two sunsingers can take down the Knights on each side, generating lots of orbs for everyone. The sword wielder should not use a super here because he or she might need it when fighting Crota. Again, the sword wielder can be a Titan with a bubble, a Hunter with invisibility, or a Warlock with Fireborn. Those abilities have the most utility and having lots of orbs allows you to recharge your super quickly. The Defender Titan should also save his super for the boomers and then when coming back into the crystal room his super can recharge quickly. I found that 7 orbs would be enough to fully recharge a super, then you can use the time waiting in the crystal room to finish it off.

Other Defender Titan’s can be useful as well. Every time a bubble is placed, 2 orbs are generated. These can be used before the start of the crystal room fight for added protection. You can put a bubble up in the ogre room. You can also put a bubble up when running in and out of the crystal room. If someone says that they need health, extra Defender Titan’s can save the day with orbs and protection. Remember that each orb generated is possible life regeneration, so don’t grab them all unless you need them. It might be wise to leave a couple on the ground in case of emergency.

Of course this a almost a moo point now that Xur is selling Red Death, which can heal you very easy!

BONUS #7 Take your Time

Enjoy Crota’s End. The most frustrating times happen when you try to rush it. Sure it can be fun to speed run the raids of Destiny, but if you are only trying to get the Crux or some of the gear that you are missing, a speed run might be too stressful. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the raid is fun. It’s fun playing with new people, and the mechanics are actually extremely satisfying when you know some of the intricacies.

Realize that you do not have rush through any part of the this encounter. Crota stands at each platform for 60 seconds before moving. Giving you team plenty of time to get into position, kill the sword bearer, and down Crota twice. When you try to rush through these sections mistakes happen. Wait for the sword wielder to call for rockets when he is in position. If you just shoot rockets when you are ready, it might be early, it might be late. Just wait for the “Fire” command from the sword wielder to a make sure he is ready and then you will more likely get the number of hits needed to take Crota down.

Each run through Crota is quick. A Crota fight can only last a maximum of 8 minutes before the enrage timer goes. This is not including the time spent in the crystal room, but it means that you are unlikely to spend more than 10 minutes on any one fight. If you wipe it wont even take 8 minutes. If you are getting frustrated remember that each attempt only takes a few minutes of focus, so you might as well take your time to get it right rather than make a silly mistake.

Conclusion

The team make up for the raid is interchangeable. I really like that about Destiny, you don’t have to have tanks, healers, etc. Anyone can do any job. That said, you will be more successful if you know how best to do your job. Defender Titans need to learn how to bubble well and everyone else needs to focus on generating orbs for others so that they can generate orbs for you.

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